Evgeny Kuznetsov continues to put NHL teams on notice with his ability to make sensational plays when the game seems to matter most.

In a contest where the Caps played sluggish, at times, the star in the making took over a 3-3 hockey game to deliver a goal and an assist over the last 24 minutes and allow the Caps to win their third straight tilt, 5-3, at the Verizon Center.

Kuznetsov, who had an assist on Justin Williams’ tally that opened the scoring to notch another three point night, now has 8 goals and 16 assists in 21 games to lead the Capitals in scoring with 24 points.

Dmitry Orlov had the winning tally late in period two after Kuzya circled the Winnipeg zone confusing the Jets defense. #92, after a lap and a quarter around the offensive zone, dropped the biscuit to #9 in the middle of the ice just inside the blue line and Orlov hammered another one home with Williams screening the Jets keeper, Michael Hutchinson (29 saves). That’s three goals in three games for Orlov, who was superb on this night. Kuznetsov then sealed the deal with a nice forecheck on overrated Winnipeg defensemen Dustin Byfuglien. That allowed Marcus Johansson to gather the puck and send Kuzya in all alone on Hutchinson and the Russian beat him five hole on the backhand. At that point, it would have been very appropriate for the Caps in game entertainment crew to blast the famed INXS song, “Mystify,” because that is what Kuznetsov did to the Jets on this night.

Braden Holtby (23 saves) gave up three goals, two of them were on grade A opportunities in the slot and the third he had no chance on, Mathieu Perreault’s power play tally that tied the game at three, because Blake Wheeler was standing directly in front of him. The Caps defense needed to do a better job of boxing out there or getting out and blocking that shot.

Recently the Capitals have been really strong at closing out games, a big part of which is due to their depth. Coach Barry Trotz can keep coming at you with four lines and three defensive pairs and eventually the opponent wears down. For the first seven minutes in period three it did not look like that would be the case in this one, but then Washington took over dominating the play over the last 13 minutes. In that stretch Kuznetsov provided the insurance tally and it was the Capitals relentless forecheck, cycle game, and physical play in the offensive zone that broke Winnipeg’s will. In fact, from the 13:40 mark of the third period until just 24 seconds remaining, the Jets only had TWO shots on goal. Now that is shutting a club down and displaying a killer instinct, something the Caps have been trying to build this season. They are well on their way to having that, from what I’ve seen in these first 21 games.

Overall, the Caps held the Jets to 26 shots on goal while they had 34 themselves. In shot attempts, the Capitals had the edge there too, at 62-57. Winnipeg is a big team and presented issues for Washington on this night, but ultimately Trotz’ crew got their legs moving and took over a hockey game that looked like it could go either way for about 35 minutes. I continue to like the way this team is handling the last 25 minutes of hockey games by taking control, stifling their opponents, and getting victories.

This triumph pushes the Caps to 15-5-1 (31 points) and with the Rangers losing to Montreal on Thanksgiving Eve, Washington is only three points back of first place in the Metropolitan Division, with a game in hand.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was another solid victory and now the Capitals will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at 5 pm on Friday to close out their five game home stand. The Bolts were in the Stanley Cup Finals last spring, so I expect the Caps to be pumped up to show Steve Yzerman’s team just how good Washington is this season.

Notes: Alex Ovechkin notched his 11th goal of the season on the power play late in period one. The Caps had two different man advantage situations in that frame and the Jets received two power plays in period two. Both teams went 1 for 2 with the man advantage. I thought referees Kelly Sutherland and Chris Rooney let a few other Jet infractions go, but that’s hockey…John Carlson had two assists and led the Caps in ice time with 23:57. Byfuglien played 27:51 for Winnipeg and he ran out of gas in period three. He was -2…the Capitals lost the face off battle, 31-23. Michael Latta was 1-6…the Gr8 had 15 shot attempts (8 SOG) and five hits to go with his PPG in 22:02 of ice time…Orlov had an assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s 8th goal of the season, that made it 3-2. Nate Schmidt made a great pass across the crease to feed #19 on the doorstep for a layup…Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The most important thing happened for the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. Mike Green lasered one in on the power play in overtime to give the Caps a 6-5 victory over Tampa Bay and now they lead the Southeast Division by four points over Winnipeg with just six games to go.

It was two much needed points but what looked to be a laugher in the second frame with Washington up 5-1, turned into a horror show as Tampa rallied to tie the game with three third period tallies. But Adam Oates’ team can breathe a big sigh of relief after this one thanks to Marcus Johansson drawing a key penatly in the extra session followed by Green’s game winner.

Speaking of Oates, he has a ton of video, good and bad, to show his club the next time they reconvene at Kettler IcePlex (either Sunday or Monday).

The good was the Caps offensive zone passing, which led to some very pretty goals over the first 26 minutes of this contest. Tampa isn’t exactly known for defense and goaltending but the Capitals were playing well and with confidence. Alexander Ovechkin pumped in his league leading 27th tally and also added an assist. Mathieu Perreault’s line scored twice on pretty passing plays in the middle frame with both Eric Fehr and Jason Chimera finishing via tap-ins. Even the fourth line got on the score sheet as Jay Beagle fed defensemen Jack Hillen for a goal while Aaron Volpatti did a super job of going to the net to create traffic. Troy Brouwer notched the first marker on the power play on a sweet feed from Mike Ribeiro.

However, the bad is what the team seemed to be focusing on after the game and that could turn out to be a positive. Washington’s defensive zone was horrible over the last 30 minutes and it primarily had to do with players not moving their feet. When you stop skating suddenly the other team is quicker to the puck and massive open ice appears for the opponent. The high slot was vacated by Washington defenders nearly the entire third period while the wingers were caught down low too often. This made it easy for the Bolts to get point shots with traffic. It was a recipe for disaster and Braden Holtby fortunately made some big saves late otherwise the Caps would have lost. This wasn’t really about X’s and O’s in the final frame, it was all about effort and the lack of skating. That’s easily correctable.

Two points are two points though, and this victory gives the Caps seven wins in a row. They are a hot hockey club and hopefully they don’t lose any confidence from the blown lead and realize this was an effort problem, not a lack of skill or system problem.

If they focus on the effort issue and maintain their confidence level, they’ll be all right going forward.

Notes: Volpatti went down injured after blocking a third period shot and didn’t return…Martin Erat played his first game since being injured last Saturday in Florida. #10 had 15:11 of ice time…the Caps won the faceoff battle 39-29 but were outshot 40-38 and the shot attempts were 67-57 for Tampa….the Caps power play went 2 for 5 while the Bolts were 0 for 2 with the man advantage…Washington held Steven Stamkos without a goal, he trails Ovechkin by one in the goal scoring race…Martin St. Louis, a Cap killer, had two goals for Tampa…the Capitals next five games are against Canadian teams (home vs TOR on Tuesday, then at OTT on Thur, and at MTL on Sat, before coming home to face WPG and OTT the following week). The last game of the year is home against the Bruins on Saturday, April 27th. Only Winnipeg isn’t in playoff position right now but they are playing well so this final stretch is going to be tough for Washington…congratulations to former Capitals assistant Coach Keith Allain on winning the NCAA Hockey Championship as the head coach at Yale.

There are times in a sports season when a team needs a certain player to come up big and help carry their club to victory on a given night.

With the Washington Capitals facing a Tampa Bay Lightning squad that had its back to the wall, Coach Adam Oates really needed goalie Michal Neuvirth, who hadn’t played a game since March 16th, to be that guy on Sunday evening.

Number 30 delivered and the Caps might have been three or more goals down if not for some great saves the Czech net minder made in the opening frame, which saw Washington trail only 1-0 despite being out quality chanced by a two to one ratio. Bolts captain Vinny Lecavalier, who scored that big overtime goal in game two of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Caps in 2011 on Neuvirth that pretty much ended that series, was not able to beat Neuvy on this night and he had a couple of one on one chances in the first period. Simply put, #30 was the man on Sunday and was the game’s first star, in my book.

From Alexander Ovechkin to Nicklas Backstrom to John Carlson, they all praised the play of their goalie afterwards, for keeping Washington in the game until they could get their legs under them in the middle frame.

Hockey is a game that is so much based on good health and confidence. Right now, that combination is what has Washington’s top line of Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Marcus Johansson firing on all cylinders. They are as dominant as any line in the NHL at this juncture and Ovechkin notched two goals, including the clinching empty netter, to tie Steven Stamkos for the league goal scoring lead at 25 tallies. Alex is playing outstanding and he seems as happy as I’ve seen him in years. I can’t help but think his life off of the ice, which includes a recent engagement, is a part of the picture, but the coaching of Oates and more importantly, the play of his linemates is making it easier for him.

Backstrom, after a shoulder injury in 2010, a nasty concussion in 2011, and some type of neck injury in December of 2012 did not reach 100% health again until several games into this lockout shortened campaign but Oates told the media after the game that for the last month and a half he is playing outstanding. Nicky doesn’t get the accolades that the Gr8 gets, and let’s be honest, Ovi is a rock star, but he is as important to the Capitals hockey team as Ovechkin is. In past years I’ve talked about how strong Backstrom is on his skates and he has that back again this year. He is winning a large majority of the one on one battles on the boards and as a result he is dominating play.

As for Johansson, Oates acknowledges that the young Swede has the hardest role on that line. He has to feel the pressure to get the puck to the two superstars and yet he’s playing as well as he ever has. His confidence is sky high right now. If he can work on taking his shot more often, that would help keep the opposing defenders and goalie more honest, which would open things up even greater for the entire line.

Washington really played well as a team from the second period on and their strong play in their own end led to numerous odd man rushes in this contest. In fact the winning tally by Joel Ward came on a 3 on 2 rush and #42 beat Bolts goalie Ben Bishop short side because the goaltender was cheating to his left thinking pass. It was a big goal and seemed to deflate the Bolts.

Carlson’s blast to tie the game up, also took some wind out of Tampa’s sails and it was a downright rocket. I am not sure I’ve seen a slap shot that hard in a game in a long time. To quote Crash Davis from Bull Durham, “Well, he really hit the <bleep> out of that one!” #74 is playing some good hockey paired with Jack Hillen (two assists).

Another player so key to the Capitals success, and they’ve now won four in a row and have a two point lead on Winnipeg in the Southeast Division, is Mike Green. #52 is the club’s number one defensemen and although he had 0 points in the game, he was outstanding at both ends of the rink. Mike’s health is good and as a result, he is very confident on the ice and playing as well as he has in his career. Another thing that helps out Green is the play of his partner, Karl Alzner. King Karl is hard to notice but all you have to do is look at Stamkos’ stat line tonight: three shots on net, 0 points, and -1. #27’s job was to shut down the league’s other premier goal scorer and he did it. Green and Alzner are the team’s top defensive pair and both logged over over 23 minutes at even strength to lead all players in that department. Overall Green played 26:37 while Alzner logged 25:34.

Unfortunately, as good as Ward was tonight in scoring the game winner and adding a helper, plus making a great back check to thwart a tying goal in period three, #42 had to leave the game after blocking a shot late in the contest. With Brooks Laich down for the count and slated to see a specialist on Tuesday plus Martin Erat still out day to day after being cheap shotted by Erik Gudbranson on Saturday, the Caps are likely going to be down three wingers when they face Montreal at the Bell Centre on Tuesday. Just when the Caps were finally getting healthy, the injury bug has struck again over the last three tilts, but that’s hockey.

Still, the team is on a roll and if the top line and defensive pair keep playing at the elite level while the goalies and other skaters do their respective jobs, then the Southeast Division is the Caps to seize. There are nine games to go, with six at the Verizon Center. After a very rough start and numerous injuries, their first goal, a division title, is very much there for the taking.

Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, and Braden Holtby have all been carrying this team in recent weeks, as they need to be doing. But on Sunday night, Washington needed a big game from their other goalie, and Michal Neuvirth more than delivered as the catalyst in a critical victory over Tampa.

It was a game that wasn’t built up to be ultra important by Washington, but had Tampa been victorious, the whole Southeast Division race dynamic changes. Neuvirth would not let that happen on Sunday and so the Caps continue to control how this playoff race will play out.

Kudos, Michal.

Notes: Tampa is now eight points in back of the Caps. They have 10 games left, including another at the Verizon Center on Saturday…Backstrom was also dominant from the dot tonight going 13-7. The Caps won the face off battle, 35-32…Washington out shot Tampa 38-30 and shot attempts were 60-56 in favor of the Caps.

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The Washington Capitals did a lot of things right and several things wrong on Thursday night but the bottom line was the Caps got a much needed and deserved victory in Tampa by the score of 4-3.

Eric Fehr potted two tallies and Mathieu Perreault had three assists as Coach Adam Oates third line, that also includes Joel Ward, was the primary reason the Caps were victorious.

Jay Beagle had the eventual game winner to make it 4-1 with 12:31 to go but if you watched the entire game, you knew it was not going to be an easy finish against a very talented Lightning club. The Caps continue to have their struggles in their own zone with poor coverage and turnovers. The last eight plus minutes basically turned into “The Count Floyd Show” as the team survived one scary shift after another en route to a nailbiting win.

Beagle won some big draws late and Braden Holtby, who made several huge stops in this one but also had a breakdown or two himself, held strong at the finish.

It was a game the Caps had to have to stay in the playoff race and they worked hard to win it. The effort has certainly amped up here during this three game winning streak and Washington also did a good job of not taking bad penalties in this one. The Capitals only went to the sin bin twice and thwarted both Tampa power plays.

On offense, Washington has 15 goals in three games. The power play looks great and clicked early on its only try and that goal by Troy Brouwer on a pretty passing play set the tone. With the Caps going 8 for their last 15 with the man advantage the Bolts knew they could not afford to take penalties. They did take some infractions but fortunately for them, zebras Frederic L’Ecuyer and Steve Kozari were pretty much letting things go in this one.

When Oates took over it was believed that Washington’s offense would return and it certainly has in the last week. The Caps had a lot of sustained pressure and poured 39 shots on Mathieu Garon. In this streak they are getting the biscuit deep and using the cycle game to generate chances. They are also crashing the net much more. Tonight they won the game with three of the four goals coming from their bottom two lines.

What is concerning is the Caps defensive zone play. There are times when Washington just doesn’t look like they know what they are doing in their own end. Oates must address this to keep this streak going because Holtby certainly bailed the team out several times in the first 50 minutes of this one.

Fortunately the head coach has two days to work on the defensive zone because one thing their next opponent, the New York Rangers, will do on Sunday is test Washington in their own end with hard work and a strong cycle game.

But that is for tomorrow and Saturday, on Thursday the Caps got a Florida sweep to move to 5-8-1. They still have issues on the defensive side and their top two lines could use some personnel upgrades. A Brooks Laich return soon would be an upgrade over Wojtek Wolski, for sure. It would also be nice if GM George McPhee could make a move while the team is winning to get another top six winger because playing Jason Chimera and/or Matt Hendricks with Mike Ribeiro and Alex Ovechkin isn’t a long term recipe for success.

One thing is becoming clear though, Oates is a smart hockey guy and he has this team’s attention.

The Hall of Fame bench boss has this hockey club playing hard and improving, despite some big holes in the lineup.

Notes: Washington won the faceoff battle, 36-29. That is a very important stat on the road. Beagle was 8-3 from the dot, Perreault won six of eight draws, while Nicklas Backstrom was 13-10…Karl Alzner had his best game of the season and logged 26:12 to lead the Caps in ice time…John Erskine was excellent again and played a whopping 23:42 on the blue line…Ribeiro and Ovechkin were both -2 on the night but I thought #9 was good. He made some super two way plays and his wingers just aren’t finishing right now. The Gr8 had defensive zone issues but he was better on D on his very last shift at the end of the game. His positioning and posture appear to be his biggest problems in his own end.

TOWSON, Md. – Four Tigers scored in double figures to lead the Towson University men’s basketball team to a 72-64 win over Goldey-Beacom College in an exhibition game Monday night at the Towson Center.

Towson, which never trailed in the game, shot 50.0 percent from the field and saw nine different players score.

Junior Mike Burwell led the Tigers with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting with a pair of three-point field goals. Freshman Jerome Hairston tallied 15 points, including six in the final five minutes to keep the Tigers ahead.

Graduate student Bilal Dixon posted 13 points and grabbed a team-high tying six rebounds, while junior Rafriel Guthrie also scored in double figures with 11 points to go along with four steals.

Towson raced out to an early lead by scoring the first 10 points of the game with Dixon and Burwell each netting four points during the run. The Tigers clamped down defensively, holding Goldey-Beacom to just 23.1 shooting in the opening half.

A three-pointer from the left wing put the Tigers up by 21 with 2:13 remaining in the period and the home team would go into the intermission with a 34-17 lead.

Leading by 18 after a three from Hairston at the 17:24 mark of the second half, Goldey-Beacom began to chip away. The Lightning scored the next 11 points with Keith Thomas hitting three-pointers to ignite and cap the run.

Towson got its lead back to double digits on a Marcus Damas jumper midway through the half, but Goldey-Beacom did not go away. The Lightning tied the game at 53 on aJordan Thorpe jumper with 6:22 remaining, but they could never grab the lead.

The Tigers scored 19 of the next 28 points to seal their second exhibition win of the season.
A.J. Picard led the Lightning with 17 points and he was joined in double figures by Thomas (16) and Thorpe (15).

The Tigers dished out 14 assists and committed just nine turnovers while limiting Goldey-Beacom to just four assists and 15 turnovers. Six different Towson players accounted for 10 total steals.

Towson shot 46.2 percent from beyond the arc, but just 52.2 percent from the free throw line.

The Tigers will next play in the 2012 Comfort Suites Invitational, hosted by Eastern Kentucky University. Towson will play four games in four days, starting with a matchup with Radford on Friday at 8 p.m.

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